UPDATE: Hallmark/Wellforce merger could bring academic care closer to home

Thursday

Jan 5, 2017 at 1:36 PMJan 5, 2017 at 1:36 PM

Jeannette Hinkle jhinkle@wickedlocal.com @JennyHinkleWL

Hallmark Health has finalized a merger with Wellforce, the parent company of Tufts Medical Center.

The Board of Trustees of Hallmark Health, which owns Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford, voted unanimously on Dec. 22 to finalize and approve the proposed affiliation agreement with Wellforce.

Wellforce was founded in Oct. 2014 with the joining of Circle Health and Tufts Medical Center.

The merger, which was set to take effect on Jan. 1, comes after six months of “exclusive discussions” between Hallmark Health and Wellforce and approvals by state and federal regulatory agencies.

Closer to home

Hallmark Health President and CEO Alan Macdonald said the merger represents a new commitment to academic and specialty medicine – a shift for Hallmark properties like Melrose-Wakefield.

“It gives us a better base for recruiting physicians and nurses than just as a stand-alone community hospital,” Macdonald told the Free Press. “Over the next few years, you will see a real strong sense of having an academic medicine presence in our communities at the local level. That’s huge for a community hospital.”

Macdonald said Hallmark patients can expect a fuller spectrum of care in coming years – everything from pre-admission to post-discharge services – and Wellforce CEO Normand Deschene said Wellforce will work to bring more primary care doctors to Hallmark properties.

“We are going to be able to provide to the patient base the very, very best world-class care that they would get [at] any academic medical center in the community,” Macdonald said. “We’ve got so much skill three or four miles from us, why couldn’t it be here, too?”

Deschene said Wellforce will work with Hallmark throughout 2017 to assess the communities it serves and identify what technology and health care needs are underserved.

By combining resources, the organizations can reduce the need for emergency medicine through population health management, Deschene said.

“The incentive is to keep people healthy,” Deschene said. “We are taking a little time to assess the needs and putting a plan together to address those needs.”

Borrowing power

The merger also makes capital improvements to Hallmark properties more likely. Macdonald said that by expanding the services offered by Hallmark, the company hopes to expand its patient base – thereby justifying greater investment in facilities.

“In order to take responsibility for all that the patient needs, you need to have a ladder [of care] from low to high,” Macdonald said. “If you don’t have that, it’s hard to attract investment to your facility because you really don’t attract the volume of patients to warrant the investment.”

The cost of any facility investments, whether at Tufts Medical Center or Hallmark properties like Melrose-Wakefield, will be shared by all affiliates under the agreement, Macdonald said.

Access to capital, Deschene said, is a critical issue facing all health care organizations and a primary motivation for the merger.

“As a combined entity, we will be borrowing money for the benefit of our individual organizations,” Deschene said. “Over time, the organization has a goal of being financially viable and attractive to capital markets for continued investment.”

Though Hallmark entered the agreement as a “third, equal founding member,” the organization will maintain its own license, operate its own facilities and manage its own budget.

Macdonald said Hallmark representatives would play a large role in any decisions about upgrading facilities at Hallmark properties like Melrose-Wakefield, including any improvements to the hospital’s emergency department.

What’s in a name?

Residents will still see the Hallmark name at places like Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and Lawrence Memorial Hospital, but the organization is looking at the merger as a chance to rebrand and advertise the augmented spectrum of care it will offer as a Wellforce affiliate.

“We are having meetings about what this means in terms of branding but there isn’t any change at the moment,” Macdonald said.

The primary focus now is to build an infrastructure of specialized academic medicine at Hallmark properties, said Wellforce CEO Deschene.

“I think the first part is delivering the care,” Deschene said. “Branding is delivering on a promise. I am a firm believer in making sure you can deliver on the promise before you make the promise.”

Building relationships

Macdonald called the new affiliation a “forever merger.”

“This is going to be a generational build,” he said. “We’ve put together an organization where the future is a lot more clear and strong for our vision of what we provide in the community.”

While Hallmark has big plans for its future with Wellforce, Macdonald said 2017 will be about fostering relationships between staff at Wellforce and Hallmark.

“The long-term plan is, yes, facilities, but it is really about the relationships, the talent and the skill necessary to provide world-class service,” Macdonald said. “Then we want to build a facility around that that merits the talent we have. The work begins now.”